


The Fear Within

by Rinzler



Category: The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, choo choo motherfuckers, coldflash if you squint, here comes the angst train
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-03-20
Packaged: 2018-05-27 20:14:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6298663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinzler/pseuds/Rinzler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anon prompted “coldflash with “How can you run from what’s inside you?” If you please :3.” This kind of got a little dark and angst-filled… I hope you enjoy anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fear Within

“I won’t,” Barry gasps out. “I won’t do it.”

Zoom tilts its head slowly, blue lightning sparking across its eyes as it observes Barry carefully. Pinned under its gaze, Barry feels like a butterfly under a piece of glass, a dead organism held up for inspection. The piece of steel rebar that’s pierced through his body just above his left hip makes the comparison all too accurate. Blood drips down his leg, and Barry has to grit his teeth and force himself to meet Zoom’s gaze instead of collapsing.

“You will,” Zoom says. There is no hesitance in its voice, no victory at a successful manipulation. Zoom isn’t saying what it believes is true. It's saying what it knows is true.

Zoom’s been talking like that ever since it smashed into Barry in the middle of one of his routine patrols, sending him careening off course and into an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. The ensuing battle was short and ended with Barry where he is now, pinned to the floor with a piece of steel rebar through his left side, left arm broken and a possible concussion. Zoom stands above him, still talking, with the sort of insistence that only comes with being dead certain about something.

“Cold will die. You will kill him.” Zoom says. Barry drops his gaze and shakes his head, unable to meet Zoom’s gaze any longer. He stares at the logo on its chest instead, horrid and black, too pointed, too sharp.

“No,” Barry says, but his conviction is fading. “I don’t kill. I’m not like you.”

Zoom laughs. It’s a horrible sound, half-echo half-vibration. “His death is inevitable. You cannot stop it. How can you run from what is inside you?”

Zoom’s voice growls and rumbles, and it sounds distorted, like it’s coming from underwater. The line doesn’t make any sense to Barry, but there’s some meaning there, something dark and lurking. He opens his mouth to ask but retches instead. He’s losing blood, the smell of copper becoming stronger as it runs down his legs and pools beneath his torso, making his head spin.

“What’s inside me?” Barry manages to ask.

There’s a flicker of blue lightning, then Zoom is directly above him. Kneeling or crouching, Barry doesn’t know. The blue lightning that flickers across his suit sends sparks dancing across Barry’s own. They’re not like his lightning- they sting, leaving star-shaped marks burned into the suit. He smells overpoweringly like ozone and sulfur, a toxic combination that makes Barry’s head swim.

Zoom’s shoulders and head fill Barry’s vision, and its eyes are dark, darker than the inky-black that came when Doctor Light had blinded him. He wants to run, but he can’t. He wants to fight, but he can’t. His body is heavy and he’s tired, cold seeping into his bones. Barry can’t feel the lightning under his skin anymore.

Zoom looms ever closer. Barry’s eyes slip shut. He can’t keep them open anymore.

“I am, Barry Allen,” Zoom says. It voice is losing its echo-growl, becoming more distinct. The tone, the pitch, becomes sharper and clearer. He leans in, and his breath is almost warm, ghosting across Barry’s neck and cheek. “Now let. Me. Out.”

**Author's Note:**

> whyinhades on tumblr is sorry not sorry.


End file.
